ThriftyMum is on sick leave until 17th Dec so we have scheduled some fabulous guest posts for you to ensure you continue to save money this winter. Don’t worry, BlogMas is also scheduled ready and in hand to save you cash at Christmas too!

Hi, I’m Martyna and in this post I have collated for you my favourite money saving tips for winter 2017. They cover household spend on bills as well as regular spend on shopping. They are also easy to follow – check if any of them could be applicable to your lifestyle. I hope you will be inspired to save some money when implementing some if not all of them:

Bills

1. Reduce utility bills and save money this winter

Switching your electricity can save you between £100-£400 a year on average. It is possible to to do it easily and quickly, here are the steps:

Review your utility prices and consider switching your provider to save some money. Go to Ofgem accredited energy price comparison sites to see if you are overpaying for your gas and electricity. If you can’t be bothered to use the comparison sites sign up for https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub/register and they will monitor your energy and gas usage and prices & notify you whenever you could save more on your bills. Some Local Authorities also run their own versions of this so its a good idea to check out their website too for more information.

2. Examine your lighting

Do you have traditional bulbs or even worse the halogen ones? Then it is a high time to convert all those to the LED ones as according to studies, lighting accounts for a massive 18% of the average home electricity bill. Simply calculate how much you can save at : https://www.lightrabbit.co.uk/calculate-saving and get LED bulbs online. I have got mine at simplelighting.co.uk but do shop around to find the best prices.

3. Look inside your chimney

If you do have a fireplace it is a good idea to insulate it. It is totally possible with draught excluders such as these from Chimney Sheep. Fitting an excluder will save around 4% off your heating bill. That means it should pay for itself in about 6 months. If you do not have fireplace in your house ensure you eliminate draught from the entrance doors or windows when using thermal curtains.

Shopping

4. Mobile Apps Money Saving

Use apps to get some supermarkets products for free or half price (try Shopmium or Checkout Smart). Check if your mobile phone provider offers any loyalty programmes, for example if you are with O2 you can benefit from O2 Priority Moments, on Three you can get an app called Wuntu.

5. Offline and online money saving

Always shop around and check prices online. There are many amazing sites to check quickly if a certain item can be found cheaper elsewhere, however simply googling things is often enough as most of the time you will see products and their prices coming from the Google shop (the feed from the top of the search results). That simple check will allow you to understand if the price you are going to pay offline is fair. If not head online and remember to collect some cashback before every single online purchase – if you are spending money you may as well save a bit on the items you are going to get anyway. I recommend sites such as TopCashback or Quidco for that. You can also use sites such as Latest Deal to check bargains and deals submitted by the site visitors.

6. Monitor your subscriptions

According to a research from usebean.com almost £450,000,000 is spent each month on unused subscriptions in the UK alone. Switching just one £30/month contract would save you £360 in a year. In order to keep your subscription in check simply download the Bean app to find, track and manage your subscriptions. The app not only helps to cancel unwanted subscriptions but offers you money saving recommendations made based on learning your spending habits.

I hope the above mentioned tips will help you save some money this winter!